Irayne

A career as a pig and cattle farmer came as a very unexpected departure from the life that I have grown up with. I am very much a London girl, having been born there and with all my friends and family living close by.

 

In 2005, 'the husband' and I decided, in a moment of madness, to buy a rather run down Manor House along with its farmhouse and farm land. Neither of us knew anything at all about farming and just felt we would be more than happy spending time walking on and admiring our 'little bit of England'. What a perfect contrast from our hectic lives in London. Actually, to be honest, my life wasn't really that hectic. I had a house to look after, a five year old and a new baby but I wasn't exactly rushed off my feet and it still allowed for me to "have coffee" which it seems is what new mums do in London.

 

We then met Barry, a local farmer. He had tenanted some of the farm's land for his sheep for several years and he wondered if he would still be able to do so. We were more than happy, now content that not only could we walk on and admire the land but having sheep and lambs in the fields in the springtime now completed our "rural" idyll - or so I thought !

 

And that's how it all began, with Barry and some sheep. He and 'the husband' obviously had a lot of 'covert' conversations as, out of the blue, 20 cattle arrived, followed by a bull, some more cattle another bull etcetera etcetera. I must admit that I did feel rather proud of the handsome Pedigree South Devon cattle that very quickly made themselves at home munching at the grass in the field opposite the house.

 

I do however, take full responsibility for the pigs which is bit of a strange thing to have done having grown up in a traditional Jewish family in north London.

 

Anyway, I did some research as I really wanted to have sausages made from our own pork. Sausages have a very bad reputation for being full of the worst kind of meat and filler and although many are indeed like that I wanted to produce a good, honest and delicious sausage.

 

I settled on getting some Saddleback, Gloucester Old Spot and Middle White pigs:- all are rare breeds, in particular the Middle White. It is important to point out that at this point my knowledge was extremely thin on the ground. But I had this 'vision' - something that terrified Barry.
Girls from London aren't meant to have visions about making sausages!

 

I visited the local abbattoir - only 3 miles down the road - really wanting to understand the cycle that the animals would go through although at this stage I was still just thinking "sausages". However, it was not long before I started to think that enjoying our own beef sounded like another one of my great ideas but the next problem I encountered was finding where on earth you butcher a 400 kilo beast. Then as luck would have it I found that being married to a structural engineer was a wonderful thing indeed - 'the husband' built me a butchery!

 

I then went back to what would be the beginning of the process. Margaret ("Barry's wife") and I formulated a sausage recipe, researching in great detail the merits of various sausage casings, whether to use rusk or breadcrumbs etc. We found the freshest spices that we would grind for each batch made, and soon Margaret came on board full time, leaving her job at a local nursery (so leaving all the wet nappies behind). We then employed Jim "the butcher" and we started approaching local hotels and restaurants with our products. We now supply many of them with our meat as well as selling direct to the public.

 

I love what I'm doing in Todenham although I am still a 'London girl' in lots of ways and quite happy with that. I have two quite different lives and I really enjoy the "city" part of my life. But I've discovered this "other life" making sausages, producing and supplying the most amazing meat and it gives me a pleasure I never thought would happen to me.

 

Margaret

Margaret has been married to Barry for some fourteen years and has spent her whole life within a farming community. Supporting Barry over all this time means that Margaret's feelings mirror many of Barry's. Like so many of us involved at the farm this too has been a big departure from her 'former life'. Having run a local children's nursery for 12 years Margaret became involved early on in seeing what we were trying to do at the farm. She joined me working in the butchery as we both feel strongly about being able to offer locally produced food to as many local people as possible.

 

Like Jim, Margaret has also built up relationships with all of those that we supply which has helped tremendously as she both understands and believes in what Barry has always done during his working life.

 

Barry

A 3rd generation farmer in his family's business Barry is the man without whom none of this would be possible. His firm belief in both traditional farming methods and the respect and welfare of the animals being of paramount importance enables us to produce the most tender and delicious meat.

 

Jim

Used to running his own butcher's shop and with 24 years experience of traditional butchering, I don't think Jim ever expected to be working with two women in a butchery in Todenham.

 

He has been fantastic at producing the cuts the way our customers want them, enabling us to provide a more 'bespoke' service. He has built up a great relationship with everyone we now supply.

 

He is always happy to welcome chefs to spend time with him in the butchery, this gives them a better understanding of the actual process of butchering an entire carcass before it reaches their establishments.